Adventures of Alexa Fox
by mackenziepokemon
Summary: Meet 12 year old Alexa, an average girl who has just received her very first Pokemon. Travel with her as she trains to become the greatest Pokemon trainer in her class and maybe even the world. Battle with Alexa's team as she not only encounters Team Rocket but her also her arch enemy Aria and her new dark type pokemon.
1. My First Pokemon

I hated my brand new pokemon. Out of all the kids in my grade I got stuck with the lamest pokemon out there, Pachirisu. The day that I'd been pulling my hair out over had finally come and I hated every minute. It all started on the beginning on the last day of school or as everyone knew, Pokemon Day. Each year, the rising seventh graders get to randomly choose a pokeball from a supply caught by the teachers. This pokemon will then become their partner for their journey over the summer. It was called the summer quest and is just about the biggest deal on the planet for kids like me. Even though it's an assignment, I don't know a single kid who doesn't think training a pokemon is the coolest thing in the world.

Over the summer kids have to train their new pokemon new moves and make them strong enough to fight against other pokemon. Eventually, if a trainer and their pokemon is strong enough they can challenge the gym. If someone can beat the leader of the gym they're given a colorful badge they can store in a little display box the teachers gave us along with our pokeballs. They only expect us to beat one or two because most people will want to stay in town for summer. The gyms are far away so trainers have to travel to get to other gyms, but I plan to beat all eight of them, or I did before I found out I had a mischievous pokemon. The trainers who traveled a lot and got the most gym badges were always the most popular at the beginning of next year when we started studying pokemon battles in depth. Some of them could even beat the teachers if they wanted to. Last night I had a dream I was one of the popular kids so I unsuccessfully pinched myself, hoping that this was all one big nightmare.

The reason I hated my Pachirisu is because I'd already lost it. Not just my temper, but my actual pokemon. It happened a little after my teacher, Ms. Woods had just given the command that it was okay to open our pokeballs. I'd almost burst with excitement when I'd seen the little squirrel shaped creature in my lap. Little did I know how much I'd come to hate that thing in the next five minutes. All around me there were screams of delight from kids who fell instantly in love with their pokemon and moans from the boys who'd hoped they would receive dragon or legendary pokemon. I was just happy I hadn't chosen a magikarp, a fish pokemon because I'd heard they did nothing but flail on the ground without water.

The squirrel was cute at least and it stared at me with big black eyes. I remembered it from last nights studying of all the possible pokemon I could be given. Pachirisu was an electric type pokemon which meant I could teach it to someday shoot electricity out of it's body. My little brother Jude would be so jealous.

I picked up the furry creature in my arms and stroked it's back so ridiculously happy I finally had my own pokemon. There had been so many times I'd wanted to cheat and catch a caterpie on my own and secretly train it. It was against the law of course, the government says pokemon are too dangerous for children under 12 years old to handle and must complete grades 1 though 6 in order to fully understand how to handle them. I personally don't think that's true but it didn't matter anyway, I had my pokemon now.

Pachirisu squirmed in my arms and started licking my shoulder with her tiny little tongue. I laughed and turned around to look at my best friend Darcie. She also looked very pleased with her new pokemon Minccino.

"Alexa that's adorable!" Darcie exclaimed, seeing my pokemon and reaching over to pet it.

In an instant, Pachirisu whirled around and bit her finger, drawing blood only a moment later.

"Pachirisu!" I yelped, letting go of the squirrel in surprise. "I'm so Sorry Darcie," I said and immediately went to the first aid kit we were now required to carry around with us over the summer.

"It's okay," Darcie said, sucking her finger and trying not to drop Mincinno. She looked a little startled herself.

"I don't know why she did that," I said, wrapping the bandage around my friend's bloody finger and muttering a few extra apologies.

The first aid kit kids age 12 to 16 were required by law to carry with them had all sorts of supplies stuffed in them for people and for pokemon. We all carried them in our brightly colored backpacked assigned to us first thing this morning. Even though I was 12 years old in five years when I turned 17 I'd still want to carry around my medicine pack just in case.

Oh no, I had only a split seconds thought before Aria and her gang came over to us carrying their new pokemon. That was one other thing I was looking forward to a lot this summer; training my pokemon to be more powerful than Aria's and beating her in an epic battle with all of her snobby friends watching. Maybe it wouldn't happen exactly how it plays out in my head every night but I'm hoping it will come somewhere close. Aria Hoffman was the richest and most undeserving girl to ever receive a pokemon. I hoped she's gotten a magikarp. Unfortunately I was disappointed when I saw her carrying in her arms a purrloin which is a very powerful cat pokemon with a beautiful dark purple coat. Purrloin was a dark type pokemon which meant it would eventually be able to shoot out dark rays of energy. How appropriate.

Aria smirked at me, obviously very proud of her new pokemon. "Hello girls," she said in the coldest way possible. She stroked Purloin silky back and it purred happily. "Where's your new pokemon Alexa," she said, noticing I wasn't holding Pachirisu. "Did it take off already?" A couple of her friends giggled. "I thought it would take more than a few seconds for your pokemon to realize you weren't good enough to train it. Poor poor Alexa, I'm impressed. You've managed to be the first one to lose your pokemon." She laughed and walked over to Darcie. "A bird pokemon," she said, stroking Minccino's feathers the wrong way. "You know cats eat birds," she said as the purrloin purred agreeing.

"Leave us alone Aria," I said grudgingly. I wanted so bad right then for Pachirisu to jump out and bite her instead. Hoping to see her at my feet, I looked down and saw only my backpack. No squirrel pokemon. Aria was actually right, I'd lost my very first pokemon.

I had to suffer through Aria's laugher as I frantically searched through my backpack to see if Pachirisu had climbed in there. If I lost my pokemon on the first day I didn't know if I would still be allowed to go on the summer quest. This could not be happening.

"Use your pokeball," Darcie suggested, picking up Parchistu's pokeball I'd so carelessly left on the floor.

She was right. If I could point the ball in the right direction, Pachirisu would immediately shoot back inside of it. It was a far-fetched idea but I had to try something.

"Attention, Attention everyone," Ms. Woods tried to calm down the excited shouts of everyone. Now was not a good time.

I stayed standing in order to search for my pokemon where everyone else began to sit down with theirs. Looking around I saw all kinds of diffrent pokemon. Most of them fit in their trainer's laps, others were a little too big. A few feet away I saw my other three friends who were trying to stop their exited hushed whispers. They'd all received cute small pokemon that squirmed around in their hands. Darcie and I would be talking with them if it wasn't for Pachistu. Out of everyone in the field where we'd been sent to release our pokemon there was one common theme; they all actually had pokemon.

"Now I hope you're all happy with your new pokemon," Ms. Wood's continued, "because it's time to give them a name. We don't want your pokemon to be mixed up with the others just like it so once you've chosen a name you'll have to stick with it. Keep calling your pokemon that name until it sticks. Some pokemon will get it immediately, others it will take a while. Now if there's anyone who need help," Ms. Wood's concluded, "there two expert pokemon trainers in the back who can help you if you need help naming or identifying your pokemon. I'm so proud of you all!"  
I watched as Darcie stroked Minccino's soft fur and whispered. "I'm going to call you Katrina."

Hatred for that little squirrel washed through me. Before we'd received our pokeballs we'd gotten to pick from either a basket of male pokemon or female so we already knew the gender. I'd picked a name for my pokemon three months ago and changed it several times. My plan was to call my new pokemon Angel but right now it did not deserve that name. I knew it was mostly my fault that Pachirisu had escaped but if I had gotten a better behaved pokemon that didn't bite people, this wouldn't have happened in the first place.

"Darcie, Alexa," a couple of my other friends came over holding out their new pokemon.

Darcie grinned and began petting the pokemon my friends were going to train. Everyone seemed so excited they actually had a pokemon.

Desperately, I began to press the button in the middle of the red and white pokeball that would shoot out beams of red light. If the red light touched the pokemon that belonged inside of it, it would bounce back into the ball. So far it wasn't working.

"Woah there," came a voice and I whirled around. Standing behind me was one of the expert trainers the school had hired to make sure nothing went wrong when we released our pokemon. He was lanky tall for only about nineteen but looked like he would be hard to beat one day in a pokemon battle. On his shoulder perched a Pigeoto. I knew it was very powerful because it was an evolved pokemon.

If a pokemon evolves it means it changes into a different form. When a trainer trains their pokemon for a long time they evolve into a different and more powerful form. Sometimes this means growing fins or getting wings and or it might means going from a two legged pokemon to a pokemon that walks on all fours. We'd watched a video of one evolving but Ms. Woods said it was nothing compared to actually being there. She said you could feel the energy wrapping around your pokemon and then in an instant they've completely changed. There's nothing like it.

"It looks like you've lost your pokemon," the trainer said, grabbing my pokeball before I could shoot out another red light.

I was so embarrassed. No one else had lost theirs or even come close to needing the trainer's attention. I could feel my cheeks burning bright red. "It's my Parichisu," I said though gritted teeth.

"It's okay," the trainer said, "no problem. Just remember, sending out the return signal is no way to handle this situation. It won't even work unless you're in a fifteen foot radius. Darla," the trainer let his bird pokemon step from his shoulder to his finger. "Scour the field and look for a Parichisu. It shouldn't be too far away."

Gratefully, I thanked the older trainer. His pidgeotto took off into the sky, her long brown wings flapping in the sunlight.

"She's beautiful," I said in awe. Some of my other friends were watching the magnificent

bird as well.

"I hope my Starly looks like that someday," my friend Faith said, stroking the little grey bird in her arms. It wiggled around and closed it's black eyes to tell her it was tired.

The trainer was about to saw something to me when we heard a scream coming from ahead of us. We raced over to it, Darcie on our tail to see what was the matter.

"Darla," the trainer exclaimed, rushing over to where the bird now lay motionless on the ground.

A large circle cleared in the middle of all the students with me, Darcie and the trainer stuck in the middle. Laying on the ground was Darla, the trainer's pidgeotto and next to it, someone else's backpack that was moving as if there was some kind of animal inside. I couldn't believe my eyes. Rushing over to the backpack I ripped it open and found none other than my Parichisu, still crackling with electric energy.

"How did it do that?" the trainer said in disbelief. He was now staring at my mischievous little squirrel pokemon. I felt like a deerling caught in the headlights, everyone was watching. "I knew electric type pokemon were super effective against flying," the trainer continued, "but you've only just got this pokemon. No offence but I didn't believe it was powerful enough to knock unconscious the pokemon I've had for seven years."

A couple of the other kids giggled at this but were quickly silenced by the sudden appearance of Ms. Wood. She also seemed shocked and surprised by the scene before her. Pachirisu ran up my shoulder and tried to hide in my long brown hair. She'd stopped crackling with yellow sparks and now just looked like an ordinary grey squirrel with a few blue and yellow markings.

"Lewis," she said to the trainer in disbelief, "what happened?"  
The trainer stroked the pidgeotto's still body and tried to explain to her what had occurred. He had barely started when Ms. Wood's interrupted.

"Wait, you're saying Alexa lost her pokemon? On the first day?"

"In the first five minutes," Aria cut it, obviously trying to draw attention to herself. She didn't like it when any else was the center of people's thoughts.

I felt my cheeks light up bright red again. This was so humiliating. Ms. Woods looked at me disapprovingly and asked Lewis to continue with his story. He got to the part where my parachitsu knocked out his pidgeotto and Ms. Woods stopped him.

"Thank you Lewis," she said, trying to keep a calm tone to her voice. "Please take your

pidgeotto to the pokemon center as soon as possible. Alexa, a word please."

New colors of red I didn't even know existed appeared in my cheeks and to my left I could hear Aria and her clique laughing at me. I hung my head in shame as I walked over to my teacher. Then as if one cue the circle disappeared and everyone went back to playing with their pokemon and chatting to their friends. I hated my new pokemon.

Ms. Woods looks young for a teacher and is very nice most of the time. Even though I'd been a little disappointed to get her at the beginning of the year because she was the least experienced I had grown grateful because my friend Lulu said the other teachers are really strict and awful. If I'd been hoping Ms. Woods would let me off the hook this time, I was mistaken. She was in one of her rare uptight moods that only came out twice a year.

"Alexa," she began, her words louder than usual. "After teaching you all year about respect for pokemon I thought you'd at least learn something when the day actually came for you to receive your own. Losing sight of your pokemon is one thing. It happens to us all eventually although not usually during the first 45 seconds. Although I am disappointed your pokemon somehow wound up in Travis's backpack I'm not sure if I'm shocked or just confused on why your pokemon was somehow able to knock out Lewis's pidgeotto without having any prior training." She seemed to pause and think over the matter and her expression softened. "I realize this can only be assumed because you've only just received your pokemon, you don't yet know how to control it's power. Still, there needs to be repercussions for losing your pokemon in the first place," she said and my heart sank. Silently I prayed to anyone who would make sure Ms. Woods didn't take my pokemon away. "Alexa, I'm going to have you sit out the tournament round for today. Just buddy up with someone and watch their battles. Trust me this is for the good of everyone." She said that like she actually meant it. Sure I was bummed I didn't get to battle against my classmates for the title of class victor but at least I got to keep my Parichisu no matter how much I hated it right then.

I thanked Ms. Woods and told her I'd be more careful next time just so I could get away and find Darcie again. Reaching down into the pocket of my backpack I felt for Parichisu's pokeball. It wasn't there. With dread I realized Lewis had taken it with him on his mad dash to the pokemon center. That meant only one thing. I would have to put up with Parichisu until I could find him again. This was going to be a long day.

I found Darcie talking to my other friends Faith, Angie and Junie. They were all brushing their pokemon's fur and trying to tie bows around their ears, necks and tails. We'd all chosen females. Pachirisu wiggled in my arms and poked her head out of my hair to look at them. She was silky smooth in my arms, unlike a normal squirrel but was about the same size. After her encounter with Darla her heartbeat had quickened by a lot but had slowed down now to what felt like a normal pace. I stroked her fur again, this time making sure I didn't let her squirm out.

"Alexa," Darcie called, patting the dirt next to her wanting me to sit down. "She let you keep her?" she asked, seeing the parichisu and backing a few inches away.

"Yeah," I said, sitting the parichisu on the ground and petting it so hard that it couldn't get up. "But don't worry, I'll make sure I get it under control."  
"What are you going to call it?" Junie asked as she tried to stick a flower in her rattata's ear. The little rat pokemon didn't seem to like it very much.

"Daphne," I decided, forcing parchitsu's head down has it tried to sit back up again. I was still angry at it for getting me into trouble.

Daphne seemed to like her new name and instead rolled over for me to rub her soft tan belly. She licked my finger again as I tried to pet underneath her chin and wiggled around as I played with her tiny arms. It was hard to be mad at something so cute.

"So you didn't get in trouble?" Faith asked. Her starly was flapping it's wings aimlessly around the little circle we'd created. The school always received the youngest pokemon because they were the easiest to catch so all of the bird pokemon hadn't yet learned to fly.

"Not exactly," I said as Daphne rolled back over and climbed into my lap. "Ms. Woods pulled me out of the tournament."

"Oh no," Darcie said, "that was suppose to be your epic showdown with Aria."

I shrugged, for some reason it didn't really bother me that much. After seeing what Daphne had done to Darla, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a real battle. I didn't know if I'd be able to control her or not.

"One of you will have to crush her instead," I said then thought for a moment. "We really need a Lillipup. Cat's are afraid of dogs arn't they?"

"Well it's not just that," Angie interrupted, looking up from brushing her cubchoo's short white fur. "We also need to find one with a good type advantage. What type is super effective against a dark type pokemon?" She asked.

Angie was right. Pokemon couldn't just look more intimidating than their opponents because they didn't always make physical contact with each other. They had to also be the right type advantage. For example, I wouldn't want to use a fire type pokemon to fight a water type, I'd need a grass type pokemon to win. It was all very hard to memorize for me. Some people understood it like that, others like me took a long time to remember all the right type advantages and disadvantages.

"Bug?" Darcie suggested after thinking through Angie's question.

Darcie was one of those who could instantly reason what type to use in a battle. She'd shown me the A she's gotten on her latest type exam so I knew she was good. I'd gotten a B-.

"Ew," said Junie, scrunching up her nose. "No way am I ever going to catch one of those."

Bug type pokemon were always the ones that no one wanted because they were just huge, gigantic bugs. Even after Ms. Wood's had explained to us that they evolved twice as fast as other pokemon it had only made us more afraid that they would get bigger. I sometimes still had nightmares that a giant beedrill was chasing me through the forest. They were wasp pokemon about fifty times bigger than normal bugs and scarred me so much to think about.

"Fighting then," Darcie said, ticking off dark's only other weakness that I knew about.

Fighting type pokemon were usually very big and they liked to punch things but I could tell from the faces around me they would much rather take a hit from a fighting pokemon then train a bug type.

"Okay fine," Faith said reluctantly. "We should all try to catch a fighting type to protect ourselves from Aria this summer."

We all nodded in agreement. It would be hard to catch a fighting type but I was sure we'd all be able to pull through. In order to befriend a pokemon and have it fight for a trainer, it needed to be caught in a pokeball. This was done by battling with a pokemon until it was very weak. Then the trainer needed to throw a pokeball at it and the pokemon would usually be pulled inside and trapped there. If the pokemon was too powerful it could still escape but if the trainer had battled with it long enough it didn't usually happen. As soon as the trainer opened the pokeball again, the pokemon would fight for them instead of just for themselves. It was a really cool method because it didn't hurt the pokemon at all and I've heard from researchers the inside of the pokeball is actually a very relaxing space. Nothing in there makes them change, pokemon just decide to help their trainers because they realize they can be taken care of in their pokeballs. I really like people who catch pokemon because it's almost like doing them a favor.

Just then Ms. Woods called us to her attention. It was about time to start the tournament. She explained how there were five stages for us to battle at so we'd be competing 10 at a time. Then she read off the names of all the people and where they should go for round one. I decided to buddy up with Darcie for the first round and help her win her battles. For a second I'd hoped Ms. Wood's had reconsidered and put me back on the list but one glance at the pokemon sitting on my shoulder and I was glad she'd pulled me out. I didn't want to see my pokemon unintentionally hurt any others, that is if they arn't named Aria.

Me and the rest of my class traveled down a path until we reached the five stages were we'd be competing. They were all giant rectangles marked in the dirt by white spray paint. On the sides were the numbers one through five and ten of the competitors lined up where they were suppose to go. Darcie and I stood in the little box at the edge of the giant rectangle marked 4 and on the other side stood Jeremy, a kid we didn't know that well. He looked really excited to be battling and probably we did too. Maybe even a little too excited.

Ms. Woods explained the rules. "Since this is all of your first battles," she said. "Take it slow. Don't push your pokemon too hard. The match ends when one pokemon is unable to battle. As soon as the match is over you come over to the nurse who will be arriving soon so she can heal your pokemon."

There's always a nurse that comes to battles like this because it's guaranteed that at least one pokemon will be injured. It's too bad that she didn't arrive earlier though, she would have been helpful towards Lewis's pidgeotto.

"Delia our other experienced trainer and myself will be monitoring the matches to make sure they are played fairly," Ms. Woods continued. "If you think you're battling your pokemon too hard you can always thrown in the white flag and please do. You don't want your pokemon to think you're too tough of a trainer," she added. "Now on the count of three you can finally start your battle. 1... 2..."

An air cannon blew and Darcie's minccino stepped forward into the arena. On the opposite side Jeremy's patrat also entered the match. Katrina, Darcie's Minccino was about the same size as Daphne but stood on two legs instead of four and had darker, longer fur. She looked more like a chinchilla than a squirrel. Jeremy's patrat was about as big as Katrina and had short brown fur and starting big red and yellow eyes. The two pokemon stared at each other for a second then Darcie began shouting orders.

"Katrina, use tackle!"

Nothing happened. Even Jeremy waited for Katrina to do something but she didn't.

"Maybe she doesn't know tackle," I suggested.

"Oh," Darcie mused and rustled through her backpack. "I forgot we could use this." She produced her pokedex. A red and white rectangular device that could identify pokemon just by pointing to them. It could also tell the trainer what words to use so let the pokemon know how to attack. Darcie pointed the pokedex at Katrina and a little voice began to speak. On the other side of the court, I could see Jeremy doing the same.

"Minccino," a little voice said, "the chinchilla pokemon. This minccino knows only two moves that it can use in battle," the robotic voice continued, "pound and and growl. Pound is an attack move and can be used to knock out an opponent. Growl is a move that will lower the opponent's attack status."

"Oh look it says right there on the screen," Darcie said, grinning and pointing to the display screen that now had a picture of Katrina and the list of the moves she could use.

"Katrina use pound," she called.

We watched as the fluffy grey pokemon ran up and slammed into the patrat. Patrat stumbled back a few feet as Darcie and I high fived.

"That's so cool," I said, watching as Patrat attempted to slam back into Katrina.

I watched as the two pokemon battled each other. Daphne even poked out of where she'd been hiding in my backpack to watch. We were beginners of course so to most onlookers this would have been dreadfully boring but to us it was so amazing that we could trust our pokemon to win battles for us. I found out what growl and leer did as well. Katrina used growl and Patrat actually glowed for a second. That must be what happens when a pokemon loses attack power I figured. Patrat was the one who used leer. A flash of light appeared in his overlarge eyes that made Katrina do an involuntary shudder. Even though I didn't get to be in it, this was still the coolest battle I'd ever seen.

Round one ended and out of all my friends only Angie was out. Darcie, Faith and Junie went over to the nurse so that they could heal their pokemon for round two. They had looked very tired and worn out after their matches with the other pokemon but after being put back in their balls and handed over to the nurse they were as good as new. Katrina's fur looked glossier and thicker and her eyes were a lot brighter too. I think Daphne was a little jealous just watching from my bag.

The second round began and I cheered Darcie, Faith and Junie on from the stands. I sat next to Angie and her cubchoo named Frosty. To be honest I never really liked cubchoos because they were baby polar bears with a lot of snot that always hung down from their nose. The snot was suppose to tell the trainer how healthy the pokemon was. I kind of just thought it was gross. Angie would be very lucky one day though when Cubchoo evolved into Beartic, a giant polar bear pokemon. That sure would be very helpful in battles.

Daphne climbed into my lap and took a nap as Darcie and Faith joined Angie and I in the stands. They hadn't made it into the semi finals and they seemed kind of sad it was all over. Even their pokemon looked depressed. Now it was all up to Junie and her rattata named Chip to get into the finals and beat Aria who I saw was still unfortunately in the runnings.

According to Junie's pokedex, Chip had actually learned a new move; quick attack. It sounded more powerful than tackle so Junie tried it out first thing in her battle against Zoe's sentret. It worked a lot better and quickly defeated Sentret but the actual battle was becoming a little boring. All Junie did was use quick attack over and over, even Chip looked a little dizzy.

"I'm in the finals," Junie sang as she approached us in the stands. She spun Chip's pokeball in the air and kissed it. "I'm gonna beat Aria, I'm gonna beat Aria," she chanted gleefully.

I didn't care who beat Aria at that moment, I just wanted her and her purrloin to loose.


	2. A Bump in the Road

I watched as Junie twirled around with her pokeball, glad at least someone had a shot at showing up my arch nemesis. Sure as I looked at Daphne I would rather it be me up there but something inside me told me I wasn't quite ready to battle. As I watched her she batted playfully at my finger and tried to suck on it.

"Is that what you want food?" I asked it, reaching into my backpack and pulling out the jar of supplied pokemon food. It came in little brown squares that were suppose to be poured out into a bowl but instead I hand fed it to Daphne. She licked it at first but then rejected it, batting it to the ground with her paw.

"Daphne isn't hungry I guess," Darcie said, after watching me attempt to feed her again. "Mind if I try Katrina?" She asked, reaching her hand into my can of food.

Katrina ate the food happily as Darcie stroked her glossy fur. I looked back to Daphne and frowned.

"Now you're just trying to stick out," I said, shaking my head at the little squirrel pokemon.

Round 4 kicked off with Junie in the lead. She began the match against Aria's purrloin with a quick attack. Purrloin stumbled backwards and there was a groan from the crowd of Aria's friends. Aria was quick though to call a counter attack and used the move called scratch on Junie's rattata. Hardly seeming phased, Chip shook off the attack and used another quick attack, but this only made Aria's purrloin angry. The battle raged on as the four of us scooted closer to the edge of the bleachers. We watched nervously as Chip took another bad blow. She looked very tired and almost unable to move. Aria was grinning wickedly.

"Andromeda use scratch again!" Aria instructed smugly.

Junie looked very tense now. She looked from her rattata to Aria's purrloin Andromeda then back at Chip.

"You're okay there?" She called to Chip who didn't at all look okay. The little rat pokemon looked just about ready to pass out.

"Maybe Junie should withdraw," Darcie whispered in my ear. "Andromeda is so much bigger. I know I wouldn't want little Katrina battling against her," she said stroking the minccino's soft fur affectionately.

I studied the battle and after a only few moments sided with Darcie. No contest was worth hurting my pokemon more than could be healed by the nurse. If Chip battled any further, she might have to go to the pokehospital and stay there for a few days. Then Junie would miss the start of the Summer Contest and wouldn't be with us to start the journey to the first gym. Not to mention the fact that she'd lose some of Chip's trust when it woke up at the hospital. Trust and love was the key to the perfect relationship with pokemon and trainer in my opinion. Without it there wasn't any point of battling.

"Suppertime," Aria said, narrowing her eyes on the little rat. "Andromeda, finish her off."

I sucked in a breath as purrloin leaped forward, in for the strike when suddenly there was a shout.

"Stop!" Ms. Woods called. "Stop this instant."

A hush fell over the crowd as everyone's eyes flew to the teacher. She looked very angry and uptight. Her lips were pressed tight and her jaw firmly set. It was almost scary to see her in the same bad mood on the same day.

"Aria and her purrloin win the contest," Ms. Woods continued and the crowd suddenly broke into shouts of protest. I stayed completely still, my eyes still on Junie who was also protesting.

"Quiet everyone," Ms. Woods said and the class settled down. "Aria wins because Junie was unable to see that her pokemon was unable to battle. Everyone take note that this is the wrong way to battle. You need to know when it's the right time to stop. Even pokemon have their limits. Junie, Aria I need to speak with you, but first go heal your pokemon." Ms. Woods said it crossly like they were in trouble which I can imagine they might be. Junie returned her rattata to it's pokeball and hurried over to the nurse. Obviously upset that she had lost the match.

"Thank goodness Ms. Woods stepped in," Darcie said to the four of us. "But what was Aria thinking? She knew she was pushing Chip to hard. It's just a silly competition not a gym battle. It's not like this actually matters."

We nodded in agreement and watched as Junie took Chip's pokeball back from the nurse and walked back over to where Aria and Ms. Wood's was waiting. Ms. Wood's looked very upset when she spoke and was suddenly very glad I wasn't either of them.

Junie is a fiery ginger which pretty much matches her feisty personality. She's the daredevil of our group, sort of a leap before look kind of girl. Junie's pretty much the polar opposite of Angie who's the practicalist. She likes making sure everything is accurate and well prepared. Angie's known for obsessing over science and stuff. She told us she wants to be a pokemon scientist like Professor Rowan, the woman we're going to visit tomorrow. I'd say Faith or Darcie are the shy ones in our group, more Faith than Darcie but Faith's just softspoken. She doesn't really have a strong interest in anything but pokemon and art. Faith is actually a really good artist and won a national award last year. I like to consider myself the glue that holds everyone together but doesn't everyone. We're a pretty good team even though we've only all known eachother for a year. I couldn't wait to start my journey through the summer with them.

A minute later Junie turned up looking rather worn out. Her pokeball had shrunk down to the size of her pinky so she could fit in the drawstring bag she wore around her neck meaning rattata was obviously taking a break.

"Well that was stupid wasn't it," she said, flopping down on the bleachers next to me.

The four of us shared a look before Darcie spoke.

"Junie maybe you shouldn't have pushed Chip so hard," she said. "Ms. Woods was right, you need to know your own strength."

"Wait, you guys are siding with her?" Junie said in disbelief. "Aria won, don't you get it? Look, she's coming over to gloat right now. Is that what you all wanted? Beating Aria was a team goal. I only pushed Chip to be the best that she could be. She was perfectly fine battling a bigger pokemon."

"No she wasn't," Faith muttered so that only a few of us could hear. I agreed with her and I didn't know why Junie was being so defensive. She was wrong to push Chip so hard. Even this was a little outside of her normal reckless self.

We only had about five seconds to prepare ourselves for Aria and her clique before they began boasting to us about their victory. I didn't understand why they felt the need to rub everything in. It was a little immature.

"Hello losers," Aria said and made an 'L' over her forehead. "Now I can really call you that because you all lost the competition. Take it from me, you all might as well just give up now. Beating a gym leader will be impossible if you're not even at my level. Next year when I come back with eight gym badges I'll be the most popular girl in the entire school. Trust me, I just saved you a lot of time."

"Eight gym badges? No ones ever gotten eight badges in just one summer," Angie said in mock disbelief. "You mean you want to qualify for the pokemon league?"

"Naturally," Aria smirked, "consider me the exception."

The pokemon leauge was a tournament that took place every two years and it was just about every trainers dream to win. The tournament challenged both trainer and pokemon in hard, brutal ways but just the thought of it was worth everything. Trainers from all around the Kanto region join together to battle against each other in the toughest of environments in front of thousands sometimes millions of people in the stands. If someone was good enough to win the tournament they're name would go down in pokemon history. Now that I'd fulfilled my dream of having my own pokemon, winning the pokemon leauge sounded like a pretty good new one. It would be hard work but I was sure I could handle it.

"I'm starting my journey tomorrow," Aria said while examining her nails like she didn't care. "You losers probably arn't going to get going for another month I expect," she yawned. "It will give me lots of time to get my little Andromeda a lot stronger so she can crush you all next time we battle. Anyways, see you." She waved her hand dismissively and her clique followed behind her giggling as always.

"What a jerk," Junie muttered. "You should have beat her Chip," she said to the pokeball. "I need to make you stronger so that we don't lose again. We are leaving tomorrow arn't we?"

I nodded. "Yes, bright in early we'll hit the professor's lab to kick off the adventure, but," I hesitated. "Junie I really think you should take it easier on your rattata. You don't want to push it too hard since you only just got it."

"This again?" Junie rolled her eyes. "That's exactly what Ms. Woods said. She thinks I should wait a few weeks before starting the Summer Quest because I'm not ready." She laughed, "what kind of nonsense is that? I'm ready, I've been ready. Chip just needs come shaping up."

I nodded uncertainly and looked down at Daphne. Katrina looked like she was trying to play with her but Daphne was just ignoring the minccino by licking it's paws like a cat and grooming itself. Scooping up the little pokemon I smoothed out her fur before she could finish. I was done trying to change Junie and needed something to distract me.

I knew the end of the school day was coming before Ms. Woods even called us to attention. The last day of school is always a half day and usually ends with a cupcake party. Afterwards I'd get to show my family my new pokemon, they would be so excited for me. My friends and I would go to the mall so we could shop for cute stuff to decorate out pokeballs and then we'd have a sleepover. I couldn't imagine a more perfect night. The more I thought about the night I was going to have, the less I worried about Daphne acting up or Aria picking on us even Junie mistreating her pokemon. I couldn't wait.

After Ms. Woods gave us a closing speech and teared up a bit, she handed out cupcakes to everyone with lots of frosting. All around me there were some kids saying goodbye and others talking about their plans to travel around the region and win gym battles together. My friends and I stayed far away from Aria and her click as we enjoyed our cupcakes as I talked about how much fun we'd have on our journey together. School was out and I had a pokemon. This was shaping up as not to bad of a last day of school after all.

"Come out Chip," Junie said and her rattata appeared from her pokeball. We all watched in silence as she tried to feed it some cake. "Here Chip," she said sticking her finger topped with frosting towards the little purple rat. Chip ignored it and shrunk away from Junie, neglecting the cake.

"It's okay Junie," Angie said when she saw Junie's crestfallen face. "Most pokemon hate people food anyway, they only eat pokemon food. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the last match."

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Junie yelled defensively. "All I wanted to do was win. Chip just isn't hungry right now."

We ate in silence until the buses to bring us home started arriving. It was a tense last few minutes but we muddled through. All around us there were lots of rushed goodbyes as everyone started piling into separate buses. It was a sad and happy moment at the same time. Most people would be saying goodbye to their friends for the summer and others were just happy school was out. Thankfully I didn't have to say goodbye to my friends because they were all coming home with me. I thanked my teacher and goodbye to some of the other friends I really didn't know that well and hopped into the bus that would take me and my new pokemon home. A warm and anxious feeling bubbled in my stomach. Everything I ever knew was about to change.

"Look at my pokemon," a kid named Avery said on the bus. He held out a nidoran, a purple pokemon that looks like a mouse with huge ears. I'd heard they became very powerful when they evolved into nidoking, a poison type pokemon.

There were a lot of people trying to show off their pokemon on the way home. I ignored them to my best ability so I could talk to Darcie about what stores we should go to at the mall. Now we'd have an excuse to go inside of the huge pokemon store that took up more than half the shopping market. Maybe Daphne would like me more if I bought her a tiny bed that she could sleep in since she couldn't sleep in her pokeball. I was still trying to work out how to find Lewis to ask for my pokeball back.

When the bus finally pulled to my stop my stomach did a flip before settling back down. My brother was going to be so jealous when he saw my pokemon and my parents would be so excited. My friends followed my to the doorstep of my little house on a quiet street. I only had to ring the doorbell once before my mom answered.

"Welcome home my little trainer," she said opening the door for all my friends to come inside."

I was surprised to see that my mom was not alone in the room; everyone else's parents had come over as well and were just as excited to see their daughters pokemon.

"Let me see, let me see," my brother Jude said racing into the room. He was wearing his white socks so he slipped a little on the floor.

"A pachirisu," my mom said delighted. "I'm so excited for you. What are you calling it?"

"Daphne," I said and stroked the pokemon in my arms. "She can be a little rambunctious at times."

I was so happy that my mom liked my pokemon. Of course I knew she would like any pokemon I got but I was still glad I'd made it home with one; which I almost hadn't.

"Lila come over here and meet the newest member of our family," my mom said and her clefable walked over.

Clefable was my mom's first pokemon so she's been in the family ever since I can remember. She's a big pink pokemon less than about a foot shorter than me with wings that don't actually fly. My mom said she evolved the very night I was born. As a kid my mom didn't train much because she wanted to be an engineer. She loved pokemon but she knew it wasn't what she wanted to do with her life so she decided to just have one pokemon to keep her company during her long work hours. Lila turned out to be a really good fit for my mom because she was very gentle and loving. She even taught it how to look after me and my brother when we were very little.

"Jude, go get your dad. He'll want to see Alexa's new pokemon as well," Mom instructed then she turned back to me. "I'm so proud of you sweetie. You two are going to be a great fit."

"Thanks mom," I said blushingly. "I can't wait to start my journey tomorrow."

"You are still sure you want to go?" Mom asked, furrowing her brow and looking closely at me. "It's not too late to turn back now. Your friends will understand."

I hadn't even given it a thought. Going on the Summer Quest had been my dream since the beginning of the year. There was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity.

"Well then," my mom said. "I better get you ready. In a little while I'll take you girls to the mall so you can buy some equipment. Your dad found his old tent from when he was a kid today but I'm probably going to buy you a new one because it smells like rotten fish."

"Thanks mom," I said and gave her a big hug.

I let my friends visit with their parents for a little while and returned to my room. It was Daphne's first time in there so I put her on my yellow bedspread and let her look around. I'm not exactly a neat freak but I do like to keep my room in some sort of controlled chaos. Last night though I'd been so excited to get my pokemon I'd left all my books and clothes on the floor and my laptop on all day. It was like I could sense Daphne silently judging me.

It was then that I decided to go through my backpack to make sure I didn't buy anything at the mall that I already had. I emptied it out my my bed while Daphne laid down next to me. A lot of cool stuff came out of my bag including my pokedex and my case to hold gym badges. Another box came out tumbling out but this one was made of cardboard and looked like it had been shipped along with a bunch of others in a bigger box. Curiously, I opened it and found it contained five other pokeballs. Empty ones I assumed, so I could catch other pokemon on my journey.

It's required by the school that a trainer only carry six pokemon with them at a time when their on the Summer Quest. They can catch as many as the want but if they have more than six they have to choose which ones to keep and store the send the rest of them to Professor Rowan to take care of until they're needed. Six was usually the amount of pokemon a professional trainer carried so the school was just getting us ready for real life.

I fingered the pokeballs wondering what it would be like to have my own team of pokemon in them. In my hands they were about the size of my pinky. The pokeballs shrunk if someone squeezed them and grew to normal size if the middle button was pressed. Professionals usually carried the small sized ones in a belt or a case. I'd probably buy one at the mall later with my friends. There was one ball missing though and it was Daphne's; I suddenly started to worry if I'd ever see Lewis again.

There was a knock on the door and both Darcy and Angie came in with their pokemon. Darcie didn't look too happy as they both sat on the edge of my bed.

"Hey guys," Junie said, coming in and sitting down in my desk chair that spun around. Faith was right behind her and just leaned backwards on the wall. Quickly I shoved all my stuff back in my backpack and smiled. Darcie still didn't look to happy.

"You guys," she said slowly. "There's something I haven't told you."

Confused I leaned in. Darcie always told me everything so it was unlike her to keep a big secret.

"I'm not going on the summer quest with you all," she said.

"What?" I exclaimed, "what do you mean you're not coming? What not?"

I was completely taken by surprise. Never had I expected Darcie to back out. She'd been my best friend ever since I could remember. I couldn't go on the biggest adventure of my life without her.

"I'm sorry Alexa," Darcie said sadly, "I just don't really want to go. It seems like a lot of work and I'm just not up for it. I'll really miss you all but it's just not my thing."

If only we'd had a moment of silence for me to clear my head but then Faith spoke up, making my day a whole lot worse.

"If we're doing confessions I have one," she said softly. "I can't go either. My parents don't want me camping out in the woods every night without adult supervision. They said if I still want to earn my gym badges they'll take me to Viridian City next month, but I really only need one. Darcie's right, earning those badges is a lot of work."

I couldn't believe it, not just one but two of my closest friends were leaving me for just about the most important summer of my life. Now if only it would stop there.

"I was meaning to tell you," Angie began shyly. "I don't actually want to earn any gym badges. Sure it's great to come back with a bunch and show them off to the class but earning them is not how I plan to spend my summer. Last week I got accepted to go study at Professor Oak's lab in Pallet town just south of here. He's a very famous professor and it's an honor just to be accepted," Angie explained.

Junie and I stared at each other unblinking. I half expected her to say she wasn't going either but she didn't. Looking around I didn't understand why my friends had waited until now to tell me that they weren't going. It made me angry to think that all this time they knew they weren't coming and didn't bother to tell me.

"Junie?" I asked weakly, unable to believe she was the only one left. All those feelings from before had just been flushed away in one foul swoop.

"I'm coming," Junie said. She looked a little flushed too. Spinning around in my chair she kicked and stuffed, filling the holes in our tense silence. "I don't get why you even want to work with Professor Oak," Junie said eventually. "What is he like a hundred years old. Shouldn't he be retired by now?"

"He is retired," Angie said and shifted uncomfortably. "He passed his lab on to his grandson twenty years ago. That's why I need to be there so badly, his grandson doesn't want the business anymore and since he doesn't have any kids well..."

"You mean the Oak Family might actually let you take over their lab?" Darcie exclaimed.

"No no," Angie said, waving her hands wildly. "Well maybe. I'm going to be an apprentice there until I'm grown up then maybe there's the slightest chance."

"That's great," I said but it came out a lot less cheerful than I'd meant it.

I was happy for Angie honestly, but something inside of me wasn't ready to forgive her. It wasn't Faith's fault that her parents wouldn't let her go but part of me still wanted her blame her. It sounded awful but it was true and I still didn't know what to think about Darcie backing out. She was my best friend, I was suppose to respect her decisions but I was still torn between wanting to be angry and wanting to support her choice. Why did things have to get so complicated?

"Girls we're about to put lunch on the table to everyone," my mom interrupted. She'd come into my room without knocking; one of my all time worst pet peeves.

There was an awkward silence in which we all stood up individually and walked out of the room. I went last and waited for Daphne to climb onto my shoulder. Lunch was the last thing on my mind right then. I didn't feel like eating but I forced myself to pretend to enjoy the sandwiches my mom had made from my friends and their parents. We'd all kind of separated into our our own groups. I went to go sit over by my mom and Lea with a sad look on my face. My mom caught on.

"What's the matter honey?" She asked kindly.

I hung my head and explained to her how Angie, Faith and Darcie had decided not to come with me on my journey. Mom looked a little surprised but then a familiar motherly expression covered it up.

"I can't say I know exactly how you feel right now but I can guess. A long time ago when I was your age the same thing happened to me," she said kindly.

I was a little surprised, I hadn't expected my mother to be able to relate.

"My friends and I had just gotten our pokemon, Lila was still just a Cleffa then," my mom explained. "We were all ready to start off on our adventure except me."

"You were like Darcie then," I said finally understanding.

My mom nodded and I thought about it for a second. Maybe Darcie wanted to be more like my mom and have a job that didn't involve pokemon. She could have just wanted to have a normal summer without all the hiking and battling that came with the Summer Quest. Darcie might just want to be like my mom and have a normal job that didn't involve pokemon. Maybe it wasn't that she wanted to avoid me.

"Thanks Mom," I said and got up. Daphne ticked me as she ran from one sholder to another. I needed to talk to Darcie.

Darcie was sitting with her mom at the other end of the table. She looked very upset and a little pink in the face. I suddenly felt bad about how I had reacted.

"Hi Darcie... can we talk," I whispered as I approached her seat.

Darcie followed me into my room where Katrina set to work tidying up the floor. I'd heard they were extremely tidy pokemon.

"I'm sorry I yelled a little too loud," I began a little awkwardly. "I honestly didn't mean to make you feel bad. It's okay if you stay here, I don't mind."

Darcie smiled at me and shrugged. "It's okay Alexa. I'm sorry I didn't tell you until now, I wasn't sure when was the right time and I ended up waiting too long. Going on a journey is a big deal for me and I just don't think I'm ready, but hey, we can still go to the mall together. I've still got a lot of supplies I've got to get so I can decorate me pokeball."

"Yeah, that will be fun," I said. "Are we best friends forever again?"

"Forever," Darcie agreed.

It had been hard but I was glad I'd made up. I knew after today I wouldn't see Darcie for a long while so I didn't want to end our time together on a bad note. She and I had been friends for too long to be separated by one summer journey. Maybe Darcie would decide to come next year, I didn't know but I was glad we got to at least spend one more night together with our other friends.

After everyone was done with lunch and Jude was done obsessing over my new pokemon- which I very much enjoyed, my mom drove us to the mall. The mall in Luminar City where I lived was separated into two sections; the smaller of the two was where I usually shopped. People could buy clothes, food and shoes at that mall. Connected to it though was the bigger building and it was made for pokemon items. The reason the pokemon section was a lot bigger was because other than Professor Rowan's laboratory and the school it was the only place in Luminar meant for pokemon. Even our pokemon center where trainers could heal their pokemon after training was inside the enormous mall. My friends and I looked at each other excitedly as we all grasped hands and entered the larger building; a whole new world.

"Bye honey," My mom called, waving after seeing us safely inside. "I'll pick you up around 4 o' clock."

Freedom was sweet. Everywhere around us things were lit up in lights. There were isles and isles of pokemon items, things from pokeballs to hairbows, I didn't know where to start. We all rushed down the first aisle after each grabbing our own shopping basket. In the pokemon mall pokemon were allowed to be outside of their pokeballs so everyone let their pokemon follow behind them or sit on their shoulder. We swept down the row, in a rush to see everything at once. It was like we were five year olds in a candy shop. Junie seemed to be grabbing things left and right. We were all using my mom's credit card as her special treat before we went off on our journey, or Junie and I did. My mom was awesome that way.

I gave up trying to get Junie to buy medicine for the trip after the first thirty seconds. She didn't think Chip would get very hurt in battle so she decided it was a waste of money, but looking in her basket a plastic rubber psyduck pokemon looked more like a waste of money to me. I made sure to buy some medicine for my pokemon just in case. Even if Daphne could be a little naughty I couldn't bare anything bad happening to her.

"Over here guys," Darcie called. She'd found the stuff to decorate out pokeballs.

There was a mad scramble as we all grabbed for rhinestones, glitter, stickers and more. I'd heard it was good to mark a trainers pokeballs so that they didn't one day get mixed up with someone else's. Sorting out pokeballs can be very tricky if most of them all look the same.

"I can't wait to use these," Faith said, shoving an entire package of glitter into her basket.

We walked around a little more until I reached an aisle that was selling bags and containers that would be fit for holding pokemon and pokeballs. I'd definitely need something to hold my pokeballs in while I traveled. Junie and I walked over to where they sold cases, belts and bags to look for something that would fit our style. After looking through a bunch of them I decided I'd be carrying my pokeballs around an a little purse I could wear around my shoulder so I wouldn't put it down and lose all my pokeballs. That would be bad.

Once we'd seen everything on the aisles, my friends and I decided to venture deeper into the mall. We saw a cafe that had little seats for pokemon to sit with their trainers and a store that only sold clothes that would fit pokemon. Faith and Darcie wanted to make a stop in there for a while and buy a few things. They bought some outfits for the rest of our pokemon to try on later so that we could have a fashion show when we got home. I wondered how Daphne would like that.

"Ooh, a beauty salon for pokemon," Faith squealed. "Please lets go there."

We followed her into a yellow and pink store that looked like a miniature spa for pokemon. I was about to say how cute it was when I saw something not so cute; Aria. Aria and her purrloin were over in the corner about to have Andromeda's hair cut. The five of us looked at each other and rolled our eyes. We were not going to let Aria get in the way of our last day together.


	3. Preparations and Information

The beauty stylist introduced us to the shop and asked us if it was our first time. I guess the stores were getting use to new trainers because everyone knew it was pokemon day for the rising seventh graders. All of our pokemon got treated to a special bubble bath without Aria seeing. Daphne seemed to like the pink bubbles that foamed around her but didn't enjoy the stylist scrubbing her as she tried to play around in the water.

"I'm sorry," I said as Daphne tried to bite the woman again.

"It's all right," the stylist said. "That's what the gloves are for."

Five wet pokemon emerged from the bubble bath looking clean but very soggy. Next the stylist had them walk through a blow drying station that made them almost dry completely.

"I'm guessing you got these from your teacher today," the stylist said after examining our pokemon."

We all nodded and murmured in agreement.

"Yes," the stylist mused. "I can see this starly and this rattata were caught yesterday because they're a little scuffed up from living in the wild. Your cubchoo and minccino were probably ordered online because you can't find those in the wild around here. They're in a bit better shape than the wild ones but still not great because they've probably spend their life in some sort of warehouse until now. And that pachirisu well, it could go either way. Those can be found in the wild around here but their very rare. You mostly find sentret nowadays. They're the other type of squirrel pokemon. Let's see," she prodded the pokemon for a few seconds. "They're all very young," she noted. "Probably all about four to five weeks old. You'll notice pokemon grow feathers and fur a lot quicker than normal animals. They're pretty amazing like that."

I was very impressed by the stylist's knowledge, she seemed to know what she was talking about. We all thanked her for the evaluation of our pokemon and asked her what we should do next.

"Well," the stylist said, running her hand though Katrina's glossy fur. "I suggest a haircut and a feather trip, especially for the wild pokemon. It will show that you care more for your pokemon. Trust me when I say this; other trainers will notice the coat of your pokemon and judge you with it. A good trainer always puts their pokemon first. Now which one of you wants to hop into my chair?" She asked the pokemon.

That was something I didn't know. The coat reflects the trainers love. If Daphne didn't look good then would people think I was a bad trainer? I wanted Daphne to be as healthy as possible and look it too, not just so that other trainers would notice but because I didn't want Daphne to feel uncomfortable and stop obeying me.

The event was inevitable, Aria noticed us as we sat our pokemon down on the little cushioned stools in front of the big mirror. Her purrloin Andromeda had just finished getting her hair trimmed so it leaped down and stuck up behind us.

"Hello again losers," Aria said. This time at least she didn't have her backup squad behind her. "Junie I didn't expect to see you here," she giggled. "I thought you didn't care about your pokemon's appearance."

"Shut up Aria," Junie snapped. "I don't see your silly little clique anywhere. Did they all run scared when they realized how hideous you are?"

"That's not true!" Aria scoffed and immediately checked her reflection in the mirror. Unfortunately, Aria was anything but hideous. "My wimpy friends decided to stay home with their parents for the rest of the day," Aria explained without making eye contact. "And weather they're coming with me on the most important journey of my life is none of your business," she sniffed and walked away. Andromeda hissed at us menacingly before following her trainer out of the store. Geez, even her cat was evil.

The stylist returned with her grooming equipment soon after Aria was gone and set to work measuring and clipping our pokemon's fur, even Faith's Starly Jess had a few stray black and white feathers. My friends and I waited on the seats next to our pokemon and watched as the woman zipped through each pokemon like a pro. It was pretty fun to watch. When she was done there was a noticeable difference. The stylist had been right, our pokemon did look well cared for and a lot happier. I was glad we'd stopped in here.

"Just one last thing," the stylist said, reaching into her apron. "I'm going to give them all free mani pedis."

"Wow thanks," we all said and sat back down in our seats.

I watched as Daphne squirmed a little as the stylist tried to clip her nails. I expected her to try and bite again but she didn't. Maybe Daphne was becoming tamer. A second later though she tried to take a bite out of the woman's finger. I wasn't sure if my pokemon would ever be tame.

After Daphne was all done being treated she happily climbed onto my shoulder and pulled on my long hair. She was dry now from being shampooed earlier and smelled like fresh lavender. Now my brother couldn't find anything to complain about if he walked passed my room in the morning. I smiled as I reached up and scratched underneath Daphne's furry chin, glad she was happy.

Just as we were about to leave we realized there was no check out counter we could pay at. Confused we turned around and the stylist had to explain to us that just like the other stores in the mall, the spa wasn't paid up front. She handed us a ticket and explained how the customer would take this to the final check out counter at all the exits to the mall and pay there. Just like all the other stores we'd been into, we hadn't actually bought anything, we just picked stuff out and were going to buy it all as one thing in the giant check out area where we payed for everything at once. I thought it was a really great system because then if I wanted to return something before I left the mall I didn't have to go through a whole procedure of getting my money back.

Things quieted down after leaving the salon. Thankfully we didn't bump into Aria again so she must have left after we saw her. Most everyone else's pokemon had grown tired of walking or sitting on my friend's shoulders and had gone back inside their pokeballs. I felt bad as I remembered I couldn't do the same for Daphne, but then again it was slightly her fault I'd lost it in the first place. She'd just have to rest on my shoulder until we could find Lewis again.

A little while later, Junie and I found the pokemon center and decided to check it out while Darcie, Faith and Angie went into the cafe next door. It was huge, cavernous place compared to what I thought it might look like. Everything was red and white but mostly clean white. There were about three check in counters with nurses standing by to heal injured pokemon. My dad told me that when he was a kid there was this rumor going around that all the nurses and police officers looked alike. He didn't know if that was true or not because like my mom he'd decided not to go on a journey, but it certainly wasn't true today. The only thing these three nurses had in common was a bored expression on their face.

Luminar city isn't known for producing great trainers. In fact I don't think we've ever had anyone come even in the top 128 at the pokemon leauge. Like everyone other city we supply kids their very first pokemon when they are twelve but after that it's up to the kid to decide whether or not they want to pursue the pokemon league. About 15 years ago things were different; for one the age requirement was lower, the trainer only had to be ten to receive a pokemon and also they received their pokemon the exact day they turned ten from a pokemon professor. In my case if they still did it this way, Professor Rowan would be the one to give me my pokemon. Personally, I liked the old way better but I guess they raised the age limit because they thought we'd be more mature by this time.

The pokemon center also had a lodge where trainers could spend the night if they were traveling from different cities. This was really great because it was way cheaper than checking into a hotel and it came with free meals from the cafeteria. The food wasn't that great I'd heard but after a long day of training, any food was good enough. I knew I'd be staying in one of these a lot during the summer and looked forward to crashing here after long days.

Finally, there were rows of computers used for calling people and transporting pokeballs from one place to another in case I wanted Professor Rowan to take care of one of my pokemon when I had more than six. I'd be sure to use one of these to contact my mom as soon as I made it to the first city on my journey. She'd want to know I was safe and if I caught any new pokemon. I made a mental note to figure out how to use these before I left.

"I guess we'll be spending most of our nights here then," Junie said, examining the place just as I had.

I nodded. "Not bad. Hey have we decided what city we're going to first?" I asked suddenly.

I had a few ideas in mind but I was waiting to hear what Junie thought before making up my mind.

Junie shrugged and ran her finger along a smooth white table. "Lets decide back at the house. Doesn't your mom have a map we can take with us?"

I nodded and agreed. My mom had bought me a map as soon as I told her I was going on the Summer Quest. She said it was one of the most important things a trainer needed on their journey. I was going to make sure to take a look at that when I got home. I had a lot of research to do before tomorrow morning.

We met back up with Darcie and the others after talking to one of the nurses for a while about how everything worked. She seemed slightly annoyed that we were wasting her time and ready to get back to playing what ever game she'd been involved in on her C-Gear- a type of computer that was very slim and was basically just a small screen with a thin computer behind it. My other friends had saved as each a blueberry muffin, my favorite.

It was getting close to four o'clock so we started making our way towards the checkout counter. We each had baskets full of stuff but none of ours was as full as Junie's. We decided we'd each have to get rid of some of our stuff if we wanted to stay inside our budget. After a few failed attempts, we got Junie to part with about half of her unnecessary stuff including the plastic rubber psyduck I'd seen before. When we finally got up to the front of the line, we had a full basket of stuff we didn't want.

"Identifications please," the store clerk said and we each handed her our trainer IDs. They were brand new since we'd gotten them only yesterday. People weren't aloud to buy items or use the pokemon center without a proper ID so I had to make extra sure I didn't lose mine.

We ended up staying in budget by a lot because the store clerk informed us that trainers day was fifty percent off to all new trainers. I was relieved to hear this because the total was going to be a little more than Mom had offered to pay. She handed us the many bags we'd taken up and gave a little pat on the head to Katrina who'd hopped up onto the counter. We thanked the clerk and walked out of the mall, all very much satisfied with our new merchandise.

My mom came quickly after we left the mall and let us hop into the car while she put our new stuff in the back. I think she wanted to see exactly what we'd bought.

"How'd it go sweetie?" She asked once we were all buckled in.

"Great," I responded. "Thanks so much for buying it all. You're the best."

My mom smiled kindly at me. "Well since I'm not going to see you for a few months, I might as well make sure you're prepared."

We weren't rich; I don't think anyone from Luminar ever made a fortune, but my parents were humble and generous people. Even though we lived in a small house in a quiet neighborhood, my parents still enjoyed donating to charity from time to time. They didn't make a habit of it but once in awhile it's nice to give back to the community. I love my parents and couldn't ask for better ones in the world even though sometimes we fight. Secretly, I knew it would be tough being away from the for so long but I didn't want Junie to think I was a baby.

When we got home everyone's parents had left already. They'd all said goodbye to their daughter before we'd gone to the mall. Thinking back on it I hoped Junie had said a long goodbye to her mom and dad before we left because like me she wouldn't see her parents for a very long time. I hadn't really been paying attention to everyone's parents and hadn't even seen her with her them. I think even if I was twenty three I'd still be secretly devastated if I left without saying goodbye.

Everyone was super excited to start working on our mom brought in some chips for us to share as we set to work. Since I didn't have Daphne's pokeball yet, I decided to decorate all the other ones first. Dipping the paintbrush in the glitter glue that was meant to go on pokeballs, I surrounded the entire pokeball in a layer of sparkles. Next I pulled out a long strip of rhinestones and made and stuck them in a pattern about a few centimeters apart all over the ball. Finally, I left room to put my pokemon's name on top of the white button that opened the ball with stick on letters as soon as I caught one and named it. It was perfect.

We all made exited remarks about each others pokeballs and then set to work on our others. Faiths looked the best to me because she was the artist of our group and had drawn little pictures of different pokemon on the side with colored pokeball markers. Junie and I had the most to do because we were actually going to use the pokeballs. After the others were done doing one or two they helped us finish ours with lots of glitter. They were going to look fantastic.

"Girls, dinner's ready," my mom said, knocking this time before entering my room.

I hadn't realized how long we had been working. It was nearly 6:30 and we'd only just finished. Time flies I guess. We went into the kitchen to find my mom had ordered us a pizza. We all were starving and dug in so the pizza was gone in seconds.

"Hey we're my slice," Jude complained, arriving a couple seconds late.

"You snooze you loose," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

My mom went over to the other side of the kitchen and revealed another pizza box. 'There's always more," she said.

Jude stuck his tongue out at me and tried to grab half the pizza and put it on his plate but my mom stopped him.

"Three's more than enough," she said sternly.

After dinner we got into our pajamas and watched a movie. I couldn't figure out why the kettle corn was disappearing so fast until caught Daphne in the act of stealing some. That's when I realized the only other thing she'd eaten today was the rest of my blueberry muffin.

"Looks like Daphne likes people food," Angie giggled as she fed Daphne another piece of kettlecorn.

When the movie finished it had already grown dark outside so we traveled back to my room where my mom had set out a plate of homemade the others tucked in, June and I sat on my bed with a map of The Kanto Region spread out in front of us. The closest town to Luminar was Pallet, the place my dad was from and where Angie would be heading by tomorrow morning. My dad said he still remembers receiving his first pokemon there, a bulbasaur. In Pallet Town it use to be that trainers would receive powerful and rare pokemon but that soon ended when it became harder to find and capture the rare pokemon. Now they just give out regular pokemon like the ones my class received.

"Viridian City?" Junie suggested, pointing to the little labeled dot just northeast of here.

It was a lot further than Pallet Town which was southeast of Luminar but from what my dad had told me, there had never been a gym leader in Pallet Town. Viridian City seemed like the best place to go because there was a gym there and I could recieve my first gym badge. I also knew though that it was where most of the other trainers were headed so there might be a lot of competition on the way.

"I don't see where else we can go," Junie said, tracing her finger along the route. "Viridian City seems like the best option."  
We then set on preparing for our trip. I packed as many clothes as I could fit in my backpack as well as a water bottle, my pokedex, my pokeballs, my first aid kit and a few other necessary things I'd need for the trip. I was amazed I could still zip up the ordinary backpack when I was done. The only thing that didn't fit inside the backpack was our sleeping bags and the new tent my mom had gone out and bought while we'd been at the mall. The sleeping bags we rolled up very tight and attached them to the top of our bags and the collapsible tent we'd take turns carrying in a surprisingly small brightly colored bag with a zipper at the top. We were all ready for our adventure.

It was an almost restless night. Junie and I had to go to bed before the others who stayed up talking because we needed to be well rested before tomorrow. I made sure to set at least two alarm clocks in case one of the failed. Junie and I couldn't not be late to Professor Rowan's or else we'd get a late start on the Summer Quest, plus we wanted to beat Aria to the lab before she could make fun of us. I was too excited to sleep and also a little nervous. This was my last night sleeping in my own bed for a very long time. I didn't know how scary it would be camping in the woods without any adults around.

When the alarm clock finally went off to get out of bed my stomach did a lurch. This was it, I was actually going on the summer quest. I shook Junie awake who had tried to ignore the alarm and go back to sleep. Next I gently woke up Daphne who had had to sleep outside of her pokeball that night. It was going to be a big day ahead of us and we were going to need an early start. Professor Rowan would probably be expecting us soon and we hadn't even eaten breakfast. I was so nervous and excited I didn't know if I was more one than the other.

Breakfast felt like it went by in an instant. Mom had made everyone french toast but Junie and I had been the only ones that had been able to wake up so early. The others must have stayed up too late last night. I was a little sad I wasn't going to give them a proper goodbye. Daphne ate the rest of my french toast because I was too nervous to eat and Junie fed Chip a little pokemon food. We were all ready to drive to the professor's laboratory.

I said a very long goodbye to my dad who was still in bed when I came into his room. He told me goodluck and to call him every night. I was going to miss him so much. Then, as if I was still dreaming, Junie and I finally hopped into my mom's car and she drove us to Professor Rowan's laboratory.

The lab was huge. It was a big white dome with large glass sliding doors. I'd heard Professor Rowan owned a lot of land as well so that she could let the pokemon she was watching over roam free. It seemed as if we were the first trainers there. Junie yawned, she looked very tired and I wondered if she too had laid awake in bed for hours, trying to imagine what tomorrow might be like. I turned back to my mom who was standing by the car. She looked very teary eyed but happy at the same time. I went over and gave her a hug.

"I'm going to call you everyday," I promised. "And when I get to the pokemon center in each city you'll be able to see me on the screen. I'll show you all the new pokemon I've caught."

She hugged me very tightly and said, "I know you'll be very responsible out there. If anyone's going to qualify for the pokemon league this year it will be you. Just know that I'm always proud of you no matter what and I"ll always be here if you need to come home early."

"Thanks mom," I smiled. "But that won't happen. Don't worry, I'm going to get into the pokemon league and win it. You'll see."

My mom smiled back at my and waved. "By honey! I'll miss you!"

I said my final goodbye and waved back. My face had gone a little pink with emotion but I didn't want her to see so I turned my back.

"Yeah yeah," Junie said, rolling her eyes. "Come on, the pokemon league awaits."

The sliding door slid open as we entered the lab and Professor Rowan's secretary smiled at us as we walked in.

"New trainers?" She asked us in a high authoritative voice.

We looked at each other and nodded.

"Second floor," she said, pointing us toward the elevator.

This had to be one of the most exciting moments of my life. The simple elevator ride gave me more of an adrenaline rush than one of the roller coasters at The Pokemon Theme Park Junie had talked me into doing. I'll just say it was the longest, most anxious elevator ride of my life so when the metal doors finally slid open I was just about ready to burst.

The room the elevator opened into was one filled to the top with tons of shelves. The shelves each had rows and rows of different pokeballs on them and each row was labeled by a different number. I couldn't believe how many pokeballs were in this room, there had to be thousands. Each one must have a pokemon inside of it. That was a lot of pokemon to be in just one room.

"New trainers!" Came a voice. I looked around and saw a young woman emerge from one of the rows. She was holding a basket of what looked like more than twenty pokeballs. Immediately, I recognized her as Professor Rowan.

Professor Rowan had supposedly been a child genius. She'd graduated from the university at about 15 and then went on to become a pokemon professor in her early age. I guess genius in in her genes because her father also was a pokemon professor. He may have even helped create the new pokedex I held in my backpack. I sure was excited to be working with her though, she seemed very trust worthy so I was glad to give her my pokemon to take care of.

"Welcome," Professor Rowan said with a smile. "What's you name?"

We both introduced ourselves as we shook the professor's hand.

"It's very nice to meet you both," she said kindly. "This must be a very exciting day for you. You're about to start your pokemon journey I suppose." We nodded and the professor continued with her speech. "Well then, since you're the first one's here I"ll go ahead and give you the low down right away. I'm Professor Rowan as you both know and I'll be taking care of all the pokemon you can't have on your team. Come over here and I'll show you how to work the PC.

We had to walk down an entire row of shelves until we reached the other side of the room. On the wall there was a huge flatscreen monitor and below it a giant computer with lots of fancy buttons and five different keyboards.

"I use this to do some of my research," Rowan explained. "And over here is where I receive the pokeballs you can't carry with you on your team."

She showed us some sort of raised platform with a marked landing pad. Above it was was some sort of cone shaped beam that must be the thing that transports the items. Behind it there was a short row of these fancy devices.

"This is the Pokeball transporter. Let me demonstrate," Professor Rowan said and went over to one of the shelves and grabbed a random pokeball. "Alexa right? Go over to that transporter and wait there," the professor instructed.

I did as I was told and waited by one of the Pokeball Transporters. Suddenly a little screen lit up and words because to scrawl across it; _pending request from Professor Rowan's Laboratory. _Then it had me tap yes or no. I hit the okay button and suddenly both the cones on each transporter began to glow bright orange. A beam came down from each one and the pokeball disappeared from the professor's devise and reappeared on mine.

"That's so cool!" I exclaimed, picking up the smooth pokeball. It was completely undamaged.

"There's one of these at each pokemon center," Professor Rowan explained, taking the pokeball back from me. "So whenever you have more than six pokemon on you, send them to me and I'll take good care of them back at my laboratory."  
Just then two more kids appeared from behind a shelf. I didn't recognize them from class so they must be from a different school. Professor Rowan greeted them just as she had greeted us.

"I was just finishing up my speech with these two," Professor Rowan explained to the two kids. "Feel free to listen in but I think we're going to wait awhile for some more people to arrive before I start again." She turned to face us and smiled. "Make sure you always have your pokemon with you when you're in the forest or any place where wild pokemon can attack you and as soon as you get to a new city make sure to first heal your pokemon and then send me any pokemon you don't need right then. I can also send you back pokemon if you need them. When they get here I'll put them in a special section I have for each trainer so they don't get mixed up with others. Do you have any question?" She asked finally.

We both shook our heads.

"Well then, good luck on your Summer Quest. You've got a long journey ahead of you, I hope to hear from you soon. Goodbye!" Professor Rowan said.

We thanked her and got back into the elevator. Just as the doors shut I wondered just how tough it is to be a pokemon professor. Every day she has to feed, water and let a thousands of pokemon out of their pokeballs. Of course she has lots of employees to help her do it but it must be tough work being in charge of it all. I don't think I'd want to be a child genius even if I was offered it.

"Ready Alexa?" Junie grinned as the elevator doors opened. "This is it. We're about to become real pokemon trainers."

We looked at eachother and grinned as the sliding doors opened again and we stepped out into the dazzling sunlight. This was my pokemon adventure; day one.


	4. My Adventure Begins

Trainers on the Summer Quest always take the trainer route out of town. This is the route that's paved with brown gravel instead of asphalt because on the summer quest the only other method of transport besides walking trainers are aloud to us is by riding on their pokemon and I didn't think Daphne would appreciate it very much if I tried to sit on her.

As I set foot on the trail a sense of independence washed over me. I was leaving Luminar City and I wasn't coming back for a very long time. This very route was the first one I'd ever been on and I had my pokemon with me for protection. Daphne tickled my neck as she stood up on two legs to see further. The route that spread out before us stretched on for about five miles before connecting to another larger and more populated route that would take me to Viridian City. We had a lot of walking to do before night fall and not to mention all the training we'd have to do in between. I needed to get Daphne into shape before we challenged the Viridian City gym leader.

The route was an open field for about a few minutes until up ahead we starting seeing trees appear. So far we'd seen no other pokemon or other trainers so Junie put Chip back in her ball. It was a hot summer day we soon realized as the forest closed around us. I looked over my shoulder and realized I could just barely see the city we're I'd been born and raised, but I was more excited than fearful.

"Alexa be quiet," Junie whispered suddenly. She sounded super excited so I looked to where she was pointing. It a pokemon, an actual pokemon.

Slowly, Junie pulled out her pokedex and pointed it at the pokemon behind the shrub. She made sure to turn the volume down and watches as a picture appeared on the screen and words quickly scrawled across it. The pokemon was called a caterpie and it was supposedly very common around here. I'd seen the pokemon before somewhere, maybe someone had received one yesterday. They weren't very cute, it looked like a big caterpillar with big eyes and a pink crest that stuck out of it's forehead. Definitely a bug pokemon; gross.

From the corner of my eye I saw Junie take a pokeball from her belt. She pressed the button and it grew to size. "Here we go," she whispered and threw the pokeball towards the little caterpie.

"Junie no!" I said, watching as the little pokemon was sucked inside the pokeball. "Not only are bug pokemon gross but you have to battle it first. You can't catch one just by throwing a pokeball at it, were you even paying attention in class?"

"Nope," Junie said as the caterpie broke free and her pokeball fell the the ground. She went over to retrieve her pokeball as the caterpie scuttled away. "I'll get the next one," she promised.

I gasped as had the notion to look up and found twenty bird pokemon, all alike staring down at me with beady black eyes. My stomach gave a lurch.

"Junie," I said very quietly, "walk slowly towards me and whatever you do, don't look up."

Junie looked up. "Woah," she said with awe. "I've got to catch one of those." Classic Junie, tell her not to do something and she can't help but do it.

"No Junie," I said urgently. "There are too many of them, it could be dangerous."

One of the bird pokemon flew down in front of Junie as if to taunt her. She picked up her pokedex and pointed it at the pokemon. Immediately a picture lit up and once again words began to scrawl across the screen.

"A pidgey huh," Junie said, trying to sound tough. "No pokemon is going to get away from me. Go Chip!"  
Chip appeared out of her pokeball in a flash of red light and faced at the pidgey. I had a sudden flashback to the last time Chip had battled. I could not let that happen again.

"Junie," I began, "I don't think you should-"

but she ignored me. "Chip use your quick attack!" Junie called and Chip obeyed. The hit only seemed to anger the poor pidgey and it attacked with what looked like a tackle. "Come on Chip, you can do better than that! Hit the bird again!" Junie called. Chip hit the pidgey with another quick attack and it looked a little dizzy this time. "Finally," Junie grinned, "go pokeball!"

Above, some of the other pidgey had begun to stir. If they saw another pidgey being hurt would they attack us? Another pidgey flew down just as the pokeball closed around the one Junie had been battling. It twitch a few times and then stilled.

"Yes!" Junie shouted at the top of her lungs. "Yes! I'm the first trainer on the Summer Quest to catch a pokemon!"  
Panic swelled up in my chest. That had done it, Junie had woken up every pidgey above her and probably every pidgey in the entire kanto region. How did Junie not realize her mistake? With lightning reflexes I didn't even know I had, I shoved Junie out of the way as a pidgey aimed it's beak towards her head and took a dive. Just as I was about to get hit in the head, Daphne used an electric type move that stunned the bird temporarily. We were in deep trouble.

"Junie!" I yelled as more pidgeys descended from the trees. "Grab your pokeball and run!"

We both raced down the road, trying to lose the impending pidgey. My heartbeat quickened as we ducked into a small grotto in a mad attempt to lose the angry birds. This was not an ideal start to my adventures through the Kanto Region.

"Junie," I scolded. "What were you thinking? Trainers are suppose to be aware of their surrounds!" I couldn't believe how disrespectful she had behaved.  
Junie grinned and shrugged. "I caught a pidgey," she said, waving the pokeball in the air.

Junie, being the reckless one I'd thought she'd mature on the actual summer quest, but so far we were off to a rocky start. I was glad she'd caught a pokemon already, honesty and I was a little rueful I hadn't caught one myself. They were kind of cute when they weren't plummeting towards us at 50 miles an hour. Now it was too late, I did not want to risk becoming bird food for another pokemon.

Junie and I peeked out of the bushed we'd hid behind; it was all clear. Slowly we picked our way out of the forest shrubs and back onto the main pathway. There was still a long stretch ahead of us until the road veered to the right and disappeared beyond our sight. We'd have a lot more walking to do before we could take another rest and hopefully we'd seem more pokemon.

"Pidgey come out," Junie said as a flash of red light shot out of her new pokeball. The little bird chirped happily and flapped it's tiny wings. Another feeling of regret washed through me as I realized I really should have tried to catch one of those. "I'm going to call you Flaps," Junie said and the pidgey cooed delightedly.

Junie held her pokedex up to the bird and it began to speak.

"Pidgey, the tiny bird pokemon," it began in it's robotic, monotone voice. "Pidgey is a common pokemon in the forrest. It flaps it's wings at eye level to built up sand or dust."

"There, it says it's attacks on the bottom," Junie said, pointing to the tiny screen. "Tackle and sand attack, not very powerful but I can make it work. All my pokemon can be super powerful if I push them hard enough," she said as she let rattata out of her ball. "You two follow behind me and stick close. I want you whip you into shape before our first gym battle so that we can get our first gym battle. Alexa you should have Daphne follow behind you instead of sitting on your shoulder. I've heard even walking can help toughen them up," Junie said to me.

I looked to Daphne and she shook her head. Lazy squirrel, I thought as I kept walking. I'd have her follow behind me later if she felt like it but for now I wanted to keep her well rested until we ran into a trainer who wanted a battle.

As we walked along down the path I spotted a few more caterpies but decided to keep quiet and not tell Junie incase she freaked out and started attacking them. I did not want her to catch a bug type pokemon, they were just gross. Along the way I also spotted a few other pokemon I didn't recognize but didn't want to catch because they looked a little weird. So far the only pokemon I'd wanted to catch was Junie's pidgey and I hadn't seen anymore of those flapping around. I wondered if we'd see anything like it along the way.

We stopped suddenly as Junie spotted another interesting pokemon. She held out her pokedex and pointed it at the strange looking bug.

"Weedle," it stated in it's robotic voice. "The hairy bug pokemon."

"Stop right there," I said, snapping June's pokedex shut. "No way am I going to travel with a hairy bug pokemon inching behind me."

It was true, the gross looking tiny caterpillar pokemon sitting by the side of the road looked ten times grosser than caterpie. It was made out of brown hairy spheres all smushed together with some sort of face etched on it. It was hideous from left to right how could anyone learn to like that thing.

"I'm going to catch it!" Junie exclaimed and I'm pretty sure it was just to spite me. "Go Flaps!"

Flaps stepped forward toward the weedle and tried to look intimidating. She was about twice the size of the weedle though and looked more like she was going to eat it. I wasn't sure if I was afraid for the weedle or hopeful Flaps might get an early lunch.

"Flaps use tackle!" Junie ordered and the pidgey ran up and rammed itself against the weedle. "Go pokeball!" Junie said and threw another empty pokeball towards the weedle. With a sinking feeling, I saw the pokeball close around weedle, wiggle a few times and then settle. She'd done it; Junie had caught the most disgusting pokemon out there and I was going to have to travel with it.

_Great, _I thought as I watched Junie do a little victory dance as she went to retrieve the pokeball. That was certainly not a pokemon I wanted to see again.

"Stinger come out," Junie said, deciding on the nickname. "I can't wait to show you to the others when we get to the next pokemon center."

"You know they won't like it," I said flatly as I tried to edge away from the disgusting bug pokemon. It was even hairier up close.

"Yup," Junie grinned, "but think on the bright side, not only do I have three pokemon beautiful pokemon already but we now have a type advantage against Aria."

She had a point but so did weedle; I hadn't realized how big of a stinger he had until now. I couldn't even bare to look at it it was so big. My mind unconsciously flew to it's evolution. I couldn't remember what exactly it was but I was dearly hoping it wasn't just a bigger form of this. No way was I ever in the world going to catch a bug pokemon.

Junie and I took a water break a little further down the road. So far things had been quiet since the pidgey attack but I was already missing home. No way would I give up going on the summer quest, but I missed just chilling with my friends on the first day of summer. They were probably at the pool right now with their pokemon or at the lake. I suddenly wondered if Aria had even decided to show up for the quest. Some part of me wanted her to attempt the quest so that we could have out battle fair and square and I could be the victor. Hopefully the others had just gotten a late start.

We started back up again and Junie let her pokemon back out of their pokeballs. Stinger looked at me with his bug bug eyes and I flinched unconsciously. Did I mention I hate bugs?

"Hey you two, wait up!" Came a voice from behind us.

I was confused at first until I realized what this meant. Our first trainer battle was about to be underway. Junie and I turned around and saw a group of kids about our age who had been running to catch up with us. With them was the boy and the girl we'd seen back at the lab and three others that must have gone to the other school. I was suddenly very nervous.

"Wanna battle," the girl asked. She looked tough and I wasn't sure I was ready, but Junie stepped forward instead and took my place.

"You're on," she grinned and sent out all three of her pokemon at one.

"Woah," the girl said and took a step back. "One pokemon at a time please. How about two each?"

Junie agreed and called all her pokemon back except for Chip. The battle began and all Junie used was quick attack over and over again until her opponent's caterpie was completely wiped out. Next the opposing trainer sent out a purple snake pokemon that the pokedex later identified as ekans. Junie remained firmly with Chip and her quick attacks until that pokemon also was unable to battle.

"I lost," the girl said, dismayed as she called back her ekans. "Good thing I brought some medicine though," she grinned. "Hey you're a really good trainer," she said to Junie. "We should battle again sometimes."

Junie nodded and tried to look boastful. I was a little envious I didn't get to battle. After missing out on the tournament and spending a little more time with Daphne, I'd decided I was ready for a real battle. I wanted someone to call me a good trainer too. Meekly I stepped forward and asked if any one wanted to battle.

"I will," said a boy, he also looked a little shy. "I only have one pokemon, can we go one on one?" He asked.

I nodded relieved because I only had one as well. Looking to Daphne, a nervous knot formed in my stomach. This was our first time battling so I was slightly trembling. Scuttling down my arm, Daphne alighted to the ground gracefully and stood strong against the opposing sentret, the other type of squirrel pokemon. It was squirrel against squirrel.

"Bonny use scratch!" The boy commanded and the pokemon attacked Daphne.

I froze in horror as Daphne stumbled backward, unsure what to do. Was Daphne okay? Should I keep going? I didn't know my own strength. Could a scratch attack hurt Daphne a lot because she looked fine. I pointed my pokedex at her and it began to list her attacks.

"Um, Daphne if you can, try to use your quick attack," I said weakly and one of the other guys chuckled.

Daphne was quick on her feet, quicker than sentret and attacked the other pokemon with lightning speed. There was a pause in the battle as both of us looked at each other unsure of what to do.

"Oh come on Alexa," Junie said stepping in. "Daphne keep using quick attack!" She called but Daphne didn't budge.

I had to try very hard to contain a grin. Daphne would only listen to me; I was so proud.

The battle continued as I started to get worried that Daphne had taken one too many hits. This was my very first battle... I couldn't mess it up.


End file.
